Time of year: calmest seas for night crossing in south?

[Parlem]

Hello!



My family and I have recently returned from a liveaboard in the northern Red Sea and we now feel that we've done plenty of diving at Tiran and Ras Mohamed after multiple dive holidays there in the last few years.


We're now contemplating a liveaboard in the south for next year (2021) but, unlike the north, my research seems to suggest that there are many hours of open sea navigation at night to get to the best off-shore reefs: Daedalus, St. John, Brothers, etc. This is clearly different from what we have grown accustomed to in the north, where rough seas can often be avoided or circumvented more easily (or alternative dive sites found).


Can someone here advise when the best time of year would be to avoid rough seas in the south? I realise this is a difficult question to answer and there are no guarantees and sea/weather is hard to predict. I'd just like an answer based on experience of typical weather/sea conditions. We don't have great sea legs and we'd rather avoid taking medication for sea-sickness, unless it is necessary.

Many thanks in advance.

PS: I recently posted the same question on TripAdvisor & got good advice ("summer is better") but someone suggested I ask here, too.

 

[Mod63]

Summer is usually clamer then winter, but as you rightly said there is no guarantee. The crossing to Brothers and Daedalus (and back) are the ones where we experienced the roughest seas, also on the first leg from Deadalus down south we did experince some shaking. If your trip only takes you south (e.g. Rocky/Zabargad and St. Johns itinary), there is less sailing in "open" waters (you are hugging the coast line most of the time) so less shaky.

 

[Tippytoes12]

You might have to reconsider the no medication rule if you do the BDE Route ! We have done these trips in August twice and once in November. There are usually three overnight sails involved, but not all are the whole night. There wasn’t much difference between the conditions on each trip, the November trip was the smoothest. An upper deck cabin really really helps.But we did the Northern Route at least once and that was very choppy. The diving is amazing in the South, well worth it.

 

[Parlem]

Thank you both for your input, Mod63 and Tippytoes12.
I never thought that an upper-deck cabin would make a significant difference, so that's duly noted. I guess that must be one of the reasons why lower-deck accommodation tends to be slightly more affordable.

I expect the size of the boat is also a factor, correct? Bigger = more stable? What about hull construction material? I'm aware that the vast majority of liveaboard boats in the Red Sea have wooden hulls, but I know there are a couple with steel hulls. Would you say that's a significant factor?

Also, I've noticed some of the marketing blurb highlights the boat was "built by divers for divers and designed to provide a smooth sailing experience" and so on. That's probably just sales talk, right?

 

[Mod63]

Having sailed on both steel and wood hulls I did not feel a big difference. Longer boats tend to be more stable and yes, the "smooth sailing" is sales talk, but some boats are actually better from a divers perspective. And no, there is no perfect boat, all have their littel things that are better on another boat, but then have something that is better than the others.

 

[bshort4]

I did a liveaboard trip to St. Johns at the end of Sept. 2019. The winds were blowing pretty good when we left port in the morning to our first dive sites but the travel wasn't that bad. That night we were to do the long (10-11 hour) crossing down to St. Johns and were warned it was going to be rough because the winds had picked up. Rough was a understatement. I was in a upper deck cabin-- you will feel the lean and sway much more on a upper deck cabin---my guess was that not many people got any sleep that night. Twice I got up to use the bathroom and was thrown to the floor hitting my roommates bed on the way down--I literally low crawled to the bathroom on my stomach and elbows to get there. The next morning my forearms were black and blue from bouncing off the walls and door jams. Hell of a ride! Once we were at the dive sights and moored it was fine and the diving was good. Another crossing of about four hours during the day was about the same--but everyone sat outside in the shaded lounge areas and enjoyed the ride. The crossing back to port (which was much shorter) was on a very calm sea. So it's pretty hard to predict when the seas will throw you a curveball and give you a interesting ride! My reasons for getting a cabin on a upper deck were for mainly safety. If anything were to happen I could open the door and go over the rail and be off the boat in seconds instead of competing with 15 to 20 others trying to get upstairs through one or two exit points.

 

[Parlem]

Thank you, bshort4
What a hair-raising experience! I would have classed September as a fairer month for navigation but, as you rightly pointed out, you can never predict what weather you'll get. Would others on here say this is a rare occurrence in late September?

It's interesting to hear that you reckon lower-deck cabins will generally provide for a more stable ride. Someone else earlier seemed to suggest the opposite. But, come to think of it, bottom and centre is probably closer to the boat's centre of gravity, right? I guess each boat must be different, but as a rule of thumb...

 

[Diving Dubai]

But, come to think of it, bottom and centre is probably closer to the boat's centre of gravity, right? I guess each boat must be different, but as a rule of thumb...

Yes however you have no visual horizon which can make things worse.

If you suffer from travel illness then as low as you can get with a visual horizon - or just go up on deck

 

[Mod63]

Some people prefer upper deck cabins as below it can get stuffy at times.

 

[scubajasonr]

Hi Parlem, I posted on the TA thread as well.

My wife and I tend to go with upper deck cabins if we have a choice. Less engine noise during night crossings, big windows to let air into the room, nice to have a room with a view. Also upstairs cabins often have double beds, whereas downstairs are twins. The safety aspect wasn’t something we previously considered, but with the recent fires it is another consideration for us. I have spent a week upstairs and a week downstairs on Whirlwind doing a Northern routes and didn’t notice much difference in motion, although we had no over night crossings.